yeah, he is. But above average, to top 5 in the NHL, is a bit of stretch.
- prock

Agreed 100%.

Doughty
OEL
Karlsson
Hedman
Josi
- FLflames34

Burns? Since we're talking about offensive defensemen.

Thomas didn't do anything in the NHL worth mentioning until his age 34 season. Talbot is entering his age 29 season. And has proven he is a capable goalie, possible #1, the past 2 years. Quite different stories. His best years have not been on a "defense first" team as his best years have been with the NYR who had good but not elite defensive teams and last year in his first with the defensively horrible Oilers. And his stats on that bad Oilers team were slightly above middle of the pack sitting around 20th in all quantifiable measures. To say they need an upgrade in goal is laughable at this time. An upgrade behind him maybe. And they need him to start the year like he ended last year. But by no means does he need to be upgraded provided their defense is better. But in my opinion the Oilers biggest issue the past 3+ years has been team defense, not just their defensemen. Their forwards need to learn to play behind their own blue line instead of just trying to play on the other side of centre.
- wreckage

Again, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with Talbot, except that in Tanner's fever dream where the Oilers are Cup favorites, he's not good enough to get it done. The Rangers were/are a counter attack team. They play defense and then counter. As opposed to the Devils who just collapse in front of the goalie.

And I mentioned Tim Thomas because he was a late bloomer, and that is a rarity. Talbot is already 29, and he's likely as good as he'll ever be. And playing 20 games on a good to almost great Rangers team isn't the same as playing 65 on a mediocre at best Oilers team.

Again, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with Talbot, except that in Tanner's fever dream where the Oilers are Cup favorites, he's not good enough to get it done. The Rangers were/are a counter attack team. They play defense and then counter. As opposed to the Devils who just collapse in front of the goalie.

And I mentioned Tim Thomas because he was a late bloomer, and that is a rarity. Talbot is already 29, and he's likely as good as he'll ever be. And playing 20 games on a good to almost great Rangers team isn't the same as playing 65 on a mediocre at best Oilers team.
- Wetbandit1

Goalies in general are "late bloomers". How often do you see a guy under 25 being the teams starter? Same can generally be said about defensemen, they usually don't make the move to NHL regular until their 21-22 age season. If he can keep them tight for his 65 starts that's good for the Oilers. The difference between Edmonton and NYR is NYR play team defense and EDM forwards have no idea how to defend. That and the fact that if Klefbom, Larsson, Nurse, Davidson, and Sekeras are their top 5 dmen, only Sekeras is older than 25 (Davidson turned 25 2 weeks ago). If things go according to how it looks they plan, Edmonton plans on running 3 scoring lines and trying to bring back run and gun high scoring hockey, like team North America at the WSoH. If they're capable of that, Cam can have a GAA of 3.00 and still take them into the playoffs. Let's see if they can score more than 3 per game before considering it a possible success or failure on the goalie tho.

Yeah well, I'll have the last laugh. Look at their roster man, who is even close to touching it?
- James_Tanner

How'd the last laughing go last year or the one before that. If you keep saying that the Oilers will make the playoffs you'll eventually be right, but it doesn't absolve you from previously being wrong